How can nuclear energy be transformed

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For these reasons, most nuclear power plants are located in the developed world. Nuclear power plants produce renewable, clean energy. They do not pollute the air or release greenhouse gas es. They can be built in urban or rural area s, and do not radically alter the environment around them. The steam powering the turbines and generators is ultimately recycle d.

It is cooled down in a separate structure called a cooling tower. The steam turns back into water and can be used again to produce more electricity. Excess steam is simply recycled into the atmosphere , where it does little harm as clean water vapor. However, the byproduct of nuclear energy is radioactive material.

Radioactive material is a collection of unstable atomic nuclei. These nuclei lose their energy and can affect many materials around them, including organisms and the environment. Radioactive material can be extremely toxic , causing burn s and increasing the risk for cancer s, blood diseases, and bone decay. Radioactive waste is what is left over from the operation of a nuclear reactor. Radioactive waste is mostly protective clothing worn by workers, tools, and any other material that have been in contact with radioactive dust.

Radioactive waste is long-lasting. Materials like clothes and tools can stay radioactive for thousands of years. The government regulates how these materials are disposed of so they don't contaminate anything else. Used fuel and rods of nuclear poison are extremely radioactive.

The used uranium pellets must be stored in special containers that look like large swimming pools. Water cools the fuel and insulate s the outside from contact with the radioactivity. Some nuclear plants store their used fuel in dry storage tanks above ground. The storage sites for radioactive waste have become very controversial in the United States. For years, the government planned to construct an enormous nuclear waste facility near Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for instance.

Environmental groups and local citizens protested the plan. They worried about radioactive waste leaking into the water supply and the Yucca Mountain environment, about kilometers 80 miles from the large urban area of Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the government began investigating the site in , it stopped planning for a nuclear waste facility in Yucca Mountain in Chernobyl Critics of nuclear energy worry that the storage facilities for radioactive waste will leak, crack, or erode. Radioactive material could then contaminate the soil and groundwater near the facility.

This could lead to serious health problems for the people and organisms in the area. All communities would have to be evacuate d. This is what happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in A steam explosion at one of the power plants four nuclear reactors caused a fire, called a plume.

This plume was highly radioactive, creating a cloud of radioactive particles that fell to the ground, called fallout. The fallout spread over the Chernobyl facility, as well as the surrounding area. The fallout drifted with the wind, and the particles entered the water cycle as rain. Radioactivity traced to Chernobyl fell as rain over Scotland and Ireland. Most of the radioactive fallout fell in Belarus. The environmental impact of the Chernobyl disaster was immediate.

For kilometers around the facility, the pine forest dried up and died. The red color of the dead pine s earned this area the nickname the Red Forest. Fish from the nearby Pripyat River had so much radioactivity that people could no longer eat them. Cattle and horses in the area died. More than , people were relocate d after the disaster , but the number of human victim s of Chernobyl is difficult to determine. The effects of radiation poisoning only appear after many years.

Cancers and other diseases can be very difficult to trace to a single source. Future of Nuclear Energy Nuclear reactors use fission, or the splitting of atoms, to produce energy. Nuclear energy can also be produced through fusion, or joining fusing atoms together.

The sun, for instance, is constantly undergoing nuclear fusion as hydrogen atoms fuse to form helium. Because all life on our planet depends on the sun, you could say that nuclear fusion makes life on Earth possible.

Nuclear power plants do not have the capability to safely and reliably produce energy from nuclear fusion. It's not clear whether the process will ever be an option for producing electricity.